The Beginning

Diet Coke and Mentos: How it All Began
The now world-famous Diet Coke and Mentos video started in the tiny town of Buckfield, Maine, population about 1,700. It was there that Stephen Voltz (the tall, bald one on the left) walked into the home of his friend Fritz Grobe (the short bearded one on the right) and asked “have you heard what happens when you drop Mentos into Diet Coke?” They had to try it immediately, and once they did, they knew instantly that they had to see how far they could take it, since that’s the kind of thing they do.

The next night they performed a small, 10 bottle fountain during a show at the Oddfellow Theater, their home base in Buckfield. The response was so huge that they knew they had to make a really big version and take it to the world.

After six months of work exploring every different Diet Coke and Mentos effect they could think of, they posted the now classic “Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments” on their website, Eepybird.com, the morning of Saturday, June 3, 2006. Within hours they had tens of thousands of views, and first thing Monday morning, The Late Show With David Letterman called, wanting to book them. The next day the Conan O’Brien Show called, the day after that National Public Radio called, and things only sped up from there. At one point Alexa.com, which tracks these things, reported that Eepybird.com, was the third fastest growing website on the planet – behind only the Windows Vista website and the FIFA World Cup website.

Since then, Stephen and Fritz have performed their Diet Coke and Mentos fountains live all over the world, from Istanbul to Paris, from London to Las Vegas, and almost everywhere in between. They’ve done videos in conjunction with the Blue Man Group, with Barenaked Ladies, and with the band Weezer (the Grammy-winning Pork & Beans).

EepyBird explores creativity, and the ways ordinary objects can do extraordinary things. Their first video, The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments, took the idea of dropping Mentos into soda and turned it into one of the best known viral videos of all time. Their viral videos have earned two Emmy nominations, won four Webby Awards, landed them on Vh1's list of greatest Internet superstars, and were voted GoViral's Online Game Changer of the Decade. Altogether, EepyBird's videos have now been seen over 150 million times. In addition to creating viral marketing campaigns for brands like Coca-Cola, OfficeMax, and ABC Family, Grobe and Voltz also give presentations at corporate events on viral video, creativity, and innovation. They have been featured on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show, Ellen, and Mythbusters. EepyBird has performed live in London, Paris, Las Vegas, and Istanbul. They have appeared in videos for Blue Man Group, Barenaked Ladies, and Weezer (the Grammy-winning Pork & Beans). And they have even set several Guinness world records. Most of all, EepyBird spends countless hours exploring how everyday objects can do extraordinary things - and how that can then be turned into successful viral videos.